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The passage of the American Relief Act, 2025 extends certain telehealth flexibilities through March 31, 2025. Telehealth flexibilities were implemented in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) seeking to expand access to care and reduce the risk of exposure to the virus.

Before the PHE, Medicare offered limited coverage for certain telehealth services for beneficiaries who lived far away from Medicare providers. Under Section 1834(m) of the Social Security Act, Medicare patients were covered for these services if they were seen at an approved originating site, such as a physician’s office or a hospital, that was located within a rural health professional shortage area, in a county that is not included in a Metropolitan Statistical Area, or from an entity that participates in a Federal telemedicine demonstration project approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).[1] The telehealth flexibilities granted during the PHE waived these geographic and originating site requirements[2], allowing providers to offer telehealth services to Medicare patients in their homes and other locations, and in other areas of the country.[3]

Without the passage of the American Relief Act, the Medicare telehealth coverage requirements were set to revert back to the original Medicare coverage criteria, which required the patient to be located at an approved originating site – which did not include the patient’s home. 

In addition to the removal of the geographic and originating site requirements, the flexibilities during the PHE expanded the list of practitioners who could provide these services[4], enhanced telehealth services for Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics[5], delayed the in-person requirements for telehealth mental health services[6], allowed for audio-only telehealth services[7], and permitted the use of telehealth to conduct the required face-to-face encounter prior to recertification of eligibility for hospice care.[8]

While the PHE has ended, the expansion of telehealth services has been a positive development for both patients and providers. As a result, new legislation as part of the American Relief Act, 2025, extended the deadline from December 31, 2024 to March 31, 2025, which has been a welcome relief.  However, this is only a temporary fix and Congress will need to pass legislation to permanently implement these telehealth expansion rules.  

If you have any questions about the extension of telehealth flexibilities, please contact Vice President Amanda Waesch at alwaesch@bmdllc.com or Attorney Kate Crawford at khcrawford@bmdllc.com.

*The delay for in-person requirements for telehealth mental health services was extended from January 1, 2025 to April 1, 2025.

[1]  42 USCA § 1395m(m)(4)(C).

[2] 42 USCA § 1395m(m)(2)(B)(iii).

[3]  Making Telehealth Flexibilities Permanent: Legislation or Regulation?, American Hospital Association (June 2020), fact-sheet-making-telehealth-flexibilities-permanent-legislation-or-regulation.pdf.

[4] 42 USCA § 1395m(m)(4)(E).

[5] 42 USCA § 1395m(m)(8)(A).

[6] 42 USCA § 1395m(m)(7)(B)(i); 42 USCA § 1395m(o)(4)(B); 42 USCA § 1395m(y)(2).

[7]  42 USCA § 1395m(m)(9).

[8]  42 USCA § 1395f(a)(7)(D)(i)(II).